Wise Little Boy
by VeniVediVici
Summary: While shopping for her heartless husband's birthday at the mall, Belle runs into a boy who is wise beyond his years and may give her life-changing advice.


Belle was honestly a woman meant to be a mother. She was a warm, kind-hearted woman who had a big heart and even more love to give. She didn't take more than what was necessary, and it was even more of a tragedy that she would never have children. Oh, it wasn't her fault. She was perfectly capable of having children of her own; it was her husband that wouldn't allow them. He was a tall, domineering man who was incapable of having children and thus decided to crush Belle's dreams by forbidding them. She understood him not wanting to have her injected with another man's baby in such a revealing way, but he'd also forbidden her from ever adopting a needy child who would otherwise never have a family if she didn't help them. It had crushed her spirits for a time. That hadn't stopped her from taking a job at a daycare where she could be surrounded by children every day and give them every ounce of love that could never be given to her child.

On the off days when she wasn't working, she would wander public places, looking at the happy families enjoying time together. Babies being cradled by their mothers in fuzzy little hats and adorable outfits, children being swung between their parents; it was everything she desired, and everything she would never get.

It was during one of these off days that she was using to shop for her husband Guy's birthday gift, floundering for what to get him. All he cared about was hunting and breeding his prized hounds. What on Earth was she supposed to get him when he cared for nothing that she enjoyed? It was one of the reasons why she frequently wondered why she had ever married him in the first person. Oh, that's right; her father had gambled his way into debt, and Guy was the only way that he could see out of it. He'd practically sold her off to Guy, and they were as incompatible as books and water. It wouldn't have been so bad if she could have had _someone _to share her life with, but alas, even a loving cat was banned because Guy's hounds couldn't stand to see one without trying to attack it.

Belle was so lost in thought about her life's unfortunate detours when she slammed into another person and fell rather unceremoniously on her back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She cried, feeling like such an idiot for being spacy again. "I wasn't looking, and you must think I'm so stupid!"

"No," A teenage boy with curly, disheveled brown hair said, looking at her from wide, trusting brown eyes. He was an adorable boy, and Belle's heart clenched painfully. He was everything she'd wished her own child would be, looks-wise. "I wasn't looking where I was going, either." He held up his _Silver Surfer _comic, grinning sheepishly.

"Oh, well, I'm Belle French." She said, holding out her hand once they were both on their feet. He took it, and brushed dust off of his holey jeans. "And you are?"

"Benjamin Tobin, Miss French."

"My, what a gentleman you are." Belle was unaccustomed to men—even boys—treating her with respect. It was quite a refreshing change of pace.

"Well, my father has made it a point that I always treat a lady properly, even if she collides into me." He said, a sly grin unfolding itself on his face.

"Oh, you weren't looking where you were going, either, so don't try to look cute and get away with it, all right?"

"So what was it that was making your head so full?" Ben asked, looking intently at Belle.

"I…was trying to figure out what to get my husband for his birthday. He's so unlike me that I was having trouble." Belle's throat suddenly choked up, the emotion getting the best of her.

"Why did you marry him then, if you two are so dissimilar?"

"Why do you ask?"

Benjamin shrugged. "The last time a woman I knew had so much on her mind; it was because she and her husband had nothing alike, too."

"Who was she to you?"

He bowed his head, the hair covering his open book eyes. "She was my mama and she left my papa and me all alone."

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The two had moved to a small table in the corner of one of the tiny cafes in the mall. _Cornerstone _was a particular favorite of Belle's, and she believed that Benjamin would be more open to her if he felt calm. Cornerstone was famous for playing soft piano music from composers in Eastern Europe; nothing was more calming than piano music. She'd ordered a latte drizzled in caramel sauce and Benjamin had asked in a low voice for a mint hot chocolate. Now they were sitting in silence across from each other, and Belle had no idea how to go about bringing up the sensitive subject of Benjamin's mother leaving him.

"Ben, you do know it wasn't your fault, right?"

He scoffed, tracing the edge of his cup with his fingertip. "Yeah, right, I've heard some of the arguments she and Papa used to have. She blamed me for tying her to him. She wanted to travel. He didn't. He wanted her to stay with us and be a mother to me instead of filling her head with dreams of what could have been."

"You must've heard a lot of arguments to know so much."

"Yeah, she wasn't exactly shy about making her opinions heard. Papa always said that he'd loved that about her."

"Ben, sometimes the wrong people get married in circumstances beyond their control. It's not that your mother didn't love you or your father. Maybe she felt sad that her life hadn't gone the way that she'd planned and she let the sadness get the best of her. It happens."

"How would you know what my mother was thinking?" Ben said with bitterness in his voice. It was such a tragic thing for a young boy to have such feelings so early in his life. No child should ever have to go through something like that.

"Because I'm trapped, just like she was."

"Trapped?" Ben's eyes flared with dark fire. "You think she was trapped by _me_? By my Papa?"

"No, no, I didn't mean that. What I mean is, oh, how do I put this?" Belle dropped her head into her hand and massaged her temples. This was not how she'd seen her day going. It wasn't the fact that she was dealing with an emotionally tortured boy abandoned by his mother; no, it was the fact that she had finally told someone exactly how she felt about her loveless marriage to Guy. "I can see what she might have been thinking. I'm not saying that it was the right thing to think, but I can see the situation from her perspective. I'm in a marriage that was not of my own design, either."

"Did you have a baby, too?" He leaned forward.

"No, my husband doesn't like children. What happened was on account of what my father did. Oh, why am I talking about this? I've never told anyone this before."

"And now you're telling a fifteen-year-old kid you ran into at the mall." Ben said with a solemn expression. "That's got to be rough."

"Oh, Ben, that's not what's rough. I have no friends anymore—Guy doesn't like any of my old friends; they're too outlandish for his tastes—my father isn't a part of my life anymore, and…I can't even have a baby to tell my woes to."

"Why would you want to burden a baby with that? I was, and I'm not doing very well because of it. You're lucky that you don't have a kid."

"Well, I've always wanted them, you see, and when I married Guy, my dream was dashed. I can never have kids."

"Why don't you just divorce him then?"

"Yeah, I know, that's the simple solution, right? Well, it's not that simple, not really. My father is a gambler, plain and simple, and he had such a massive amount of debt that he felt it necessary to marry me off to the son of the guy he owed money to. They had a deal: I marry Guy and Guy's father pays off the debt bit by bit over the years. We've been married for seven years so far and there's still ¾ left of my father's debt. So as long as it remains, I can't divorce Guy. I can't abandon my father to that fate."

"The way I see it, your father got himself into this mess, not you. I don't see why you have to save him from that."

"Don't you see? He's _my _papa, and I love him. He raised me as best he could after my mother died. This is the least I can do for him."

"Belle," Ben said, reaching across and grasped Belle's hand in his. It was warm and slightly calloused. "This guy isn't right for you just because your father did some stupid things in his life. You shouldn't condemn yourself to suffering a lifetime of sadness, a life where you aren't allowed to have the children you've always wanted. What kind of a life is that?"

"You're very wise for only fifteen, Ben."

"My papa says that I'm an old soul."

"Your papa sounds wise himself. So, anyway, what's a fifteen-year-old boy doing alone at the mall?"

"I ditched him when he decided to fall in love at the bookstore." Benjamin chuckled as he brushed some hair out of his face.

"He fell in love?"

"Yeah, with the last G.R.R.M novel; he just finished his book list—a list of all the books he wanted to read before the New Year; he got side-tracked, anyway—and he decided that today was the day to go to the bookstore."

"Oh, I love those books! Who is his favorite character?"

"Um, Tyro, Tirus, something like that."

"Tyrion Lannister! Oh, he's my favorite, too!" Belle cried, feeling that familiar excitement she got whenever she met someone who read books as well rising up within her. If only she wasn't morally obligated, as Guy liked to say, not to talk to strange men. Especially strange _single _men. Ben's father sounded like the kind of person that would enjoy a good discussion about all the best and worst books out there. Guy wasn't exactly the best audience when she'd finished a new book. He actually hated that something other than himself or taking care of the house had occupied her time.

Ben laughed with a small shake of his head. "You would get along so well with my papa, you don't even know. I can already tell you'd be best friends."

That sobered Belle's happiness up. "Oh, Ben, I don't think we could be friends."

"Why not?"

"Well, because…because my husband isn't comfortable with me talking to men who aren't married."

"Wow, he must be wicked jealous cause he got such a beauty and he's afraid some smart, bookish man will snap you up from his web of evil."

"Benjamin!"

He grinned, unabashed by her use of his full name. "What? It must be true; otherwise he would try a little better to be a good man for you."

Belle didn't know how to respond to such a statement, but she was saved from having to say anything by a _tap tap tap _against the faux wood floors. She looked over and saw a man of average height, leaning on a cane while shifting his weight from his right leg. He wore a burgundy button-up shirt with a tweed jacket over it; his face was weathered, but still handsome and a smidge of grey shone through his chin-length brown hair. He looked remarkably like Ben in that both men had a warm demeanor about them.

"Ben, who is this?" The man asked, looking between his son and Belle.

"Her name's Belle. I met her outside Old Navy when I bumped into her, and we got to talking." Ben said, giving her a subtle look that said _Don't try to change my story_.

"Ben, I told you to be more aware of what's around you. I'm sorry for my boy's behavior. I'm Solomon Gold."

"Oh, it's no problem at all. I was pretty distracted myself. So I hear you're a big fan of _A Song of Ice and Fire_, huh? I am, too."

Solomon's eyes gleamed. "Yes, I am. Very much so. Perhaps we can get together sometime to discuss the good and bad points of the series? I'm afraid Ben and I have to be somewhere in an hour, so we'd have to meet somewhere else." He pulled out a small card and held it out for Belle. She hesitated in taking it because after all, she _was _a married woman, but she remembered Ben's words that any man who would dare subject her to so many rules and take away so many of her dreams wasn't the man for her. She didn't know whether Solomon Gold was that man who would let her achieve some of her long-time dreams, but it wouldn't hurt to find out for herself. In the meantime, Guy would have to go. All it had taken was a wise, fifteen-year-old boy to make her really see it.

Belle took the card and couldn't help but notice that Ben and Solomon had the same happy brown eyes at that moment.


End file.
